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Akihiro Sato is serious about becoming a drama actor

After hearing Akihito Sato sing a few lines from the bossa nova song "Garota de Ipanema," we told him that apart from being an actor, he should also consider being a singer. "Hindi," he quickly said. "Hiya ako! Too shy. No!!!"

Four months since he was proclaimed as the winner of the Survivor Philippines Celebrity Showdown, Akihiro Sato is back on the showbiz scene.

"I try to now study more Tagalog line and more Tagalog para mas okay sa trabaho," he told PEP (Philippine Entertainment Portal) at the press launch of Penshoppe’s spring/ summer held yesterday, April 5, 2011, at the Tosca restaurant in Dusit Thani Hotel, Makati.

His 36-day stay in Thailand, the site of the famous reality show, proved to be too taxing for the 27-year-old model. So when the season ended, he asked for a break from his manager Jonas Gaffud of Mercator.

"I took a rest. I rest a little bit in showbiz. I called my manager, just maybe one or two months to rest," he related. Then, on the side, he took some "modeling jobs" in Hong Kong.

His first project after his Survivor stint is Captain Barbell, where he will play Bruno, a character similar to The Thing in the Hollywood film Fantastic Four.

Aki (his nickname) adds, "I have other projects coming up pero secret. Can’t tell about it right now pero. And then, we have...I have endorsements, modeling..."

PURSUING ACTING. His fellow Brazilians Fabio Ide and Daniel Matsunaga have began finding their niche in the business. The former chooses the comedy genre, while the latter is being groomed as one of GMA-7’s leading men.

Aki says, "Well, I’m one of the actors. I’m [an] actor. I just need to study Tagalog, and I get help from Fabio and Daniel."

The media and press have been trying to spark rivalry among the three of them but, "we are friends," he said.

"We are friends [for] long, long time. So actually we help each other and we try to figure out the way we can to speak Tagalog. Actually, we plan to do a group, dance group or something... We start already, and we [are] like... so we, maybe, like five. We have this idea now to build a group."

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But it’s just a floating plan at this point. His priority is to build up his career in showbiz, so he’s been attending workshops.

And who is his dream lady?

His quick reply, "Siyempre, gusto ko si Iza Calzado!"

The 6’1" looker admitted having a lot of crushes, "Ang dami," he said, smiling. "Pero, really, I like Iza Calzado. The person she is, she looks very good and professional. So, she’s an amazing person..."

Have they met?

"Yeah. We are friends. We know each other," he answered.

Lastly, PEP asked him about Ervic Vijandre, who—along with Aki and Solenn Heussaff—vied for the three-million cash prize.

It will be recalled that the two guys had a confrontation after the last Immunity Challenge, where both of them were the last two survivors standing. Aki purposely jumped because of a "gentlemen’s agreement"—Ervic gets the car, he gets the necklace. But to his surprise, the cager gave the necklace to Aubrey Miles after the game.

Looking back, "In spite of the show, of course, totoo yung sa Isla that I get frustrate...I get sad. But finishing the Survivor, we are fresh, we were together...no problem. I never had a bad feeling for anyone from Survivor," said the winner.